I have to agree with everyone that they need to cut back on the personalities. Focus more on the food and less about the chefs themselves. There are still a few chefs that I watch, Tyler, Anne, and a few others. I do enjoy the competition type shows, I think it is just the competitor in me and I watch them purly for entertainment.

A chief complaint I get from fans of my show (not that there are a ton of them out there, but still...) is that there's not enough footage of people eating and enjoying my food.

I wonder if just plating it isn't enough for the majority of the modern foodie audience? They like to see people having a good time eating the food the chef just walked you through preparing...

But that's what makes those formats so stupid. Anyone with a brain cell knows that all of those "friends" sampling the food are going to "ooh" & "ahh" over it, even if they really want to throw up. The entire premise is ridiculous & insults our intelligence. I don't need to see some complete strangers go orgasmic over a recipe in order to decide whether I want to try the recipe or buy the chef's cookbook. I'll make that decision based on the recipe itself. And if they nixed all this idiotic "friends" stuff, they'd probably have room to cook another recipe - lol!!

I still say the one-on-one from chef to TV audience was/is the way to go. I SO miss it!!!